Unbreakable Bonds

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon with clear skies and the sun shining brightly. The snow that had blanketed the area for the past few weeks was quickly melting under the warm rays, urging Justin to embrace the outdoors. With no hesitation he succumbed to the feeling and hastily donned a jacket before venturing into his backyard. The crisp air carried the scent of spring. Justin turned his face toward the sun, opened his arms wide like the statue of Jesus Christ atop Mount Corcovado, and closed his eyes, savoring the warmth.

The sunrays played with the kid’s hair, tickling his cheeks and nose, and filling him with a sense of bliss.

Lost completely in the pleasure of the moment, Justin didn’t immediately notice something blocking the sunlight and casting its shadow over him. He opened his eyes. Something large was hovering directly above him, about 30 feet up. “A cloud,” he thought to himself, but how could this be? The sky had been clear just 15 minutes ago. And what is this cloud that hangs so low?!

The boy peered at the peculiar object for a while, struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. Upon closer inspection, Justin discerned that the object was red with several five-pointed yellow stars at its center. The oversized balloon shape of the object cast a shadow that blocked out the sunlight in the entire courtyard. Who did it belong to? And why was it hovering over his yard and blocking out the sunlight? Justin’s mood soured, and as he pondered these questions anger began to build up inside him. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became.

After dwelling on the situation for some time, Justin finally reached a boiling point. He abruptly crouched down and grabbed a decorative pebble from the flower bed. Letting out a furious yell, he hurled the pebble towards the object hovering above.

The stone shot up like a rocket, ascending rapidly in a vertical direction. It reached a height of 13–15 feet, stopped suddenly and stood still for a moment, and finally veered downwards with greater velocity. Miraculously, Justin managed to avoid the collision and emerged unscathed, thanks to his quick thinking and agility. But the failure didn’t deter him. On the contrary, it seemed to fuel his anger even more.

With stubborn determination worthy of a better use, he kept hurling stones towards the balloon, each time with the same result: the stone flew up into the air and then came crashing down on his head. To an outsider, it might have looked as if a kid was trying to end his life and had bizarrely chosen to do so by stoning himself. However, it was unclear whether he had fully committed to this decision, which explained why he continually recoiled at the last possible moment.

After twenty minutes of this futile and exhausting exercise, he realized that a new plan was needed. That entailed reaching out to Joe. A moment later, a heart-rending cry shattered the silence: Jooooooe!

Shortly, one of the fence boards that separated Justin’s plot from his neighbor’s opened, revealing the head of a black-haired teenager. Joe was a stuttering 12-year-old kid with a medium build and slightly above-average height.

The connection between 7-year-old Justin and 12-year-old Joe was hard to comprehend. Perhaps, the reason for their friendship was that their yards were next to each other, and Joe had witnessed Justin growing up, from his first appearance in a stroller to taking his first steps, attempting to say his first words, going to kindergarten, and eventually to school. Alternatively, the reason for their friendship might have been the lack of anyone else in the neighborhood who spoke English, since all the houses located to the South of Joe’s house were inhabited by Hispanics who exclusively communicated in their own language. The town was bordered by a river to the West and East, while to the North of Joe’s house was Justin’s house solely. So, the options for socializing were rather limited, to say the least.

“Hi, T-tony!” Joe exclaimed with a wide smile.

“Hi, Joe!” Justin replied cheerfully. They had known each other for ages, and he was well aware that Joe had a tendency to forget and mix up things, including Justin’s name. Thus, he had long stopped feeling surprised or offended whenever Joe called him by a different name.

“How are y-you?” Joe asked, his words stuttered. “W-what’s new?”

“Everything’s fine,” Justin replied.

“The weather is f-f-fantastic today, f-feels like spring. And the sun! The sun is shining so bright!” remarked Joe.

The mere mention of the sun and its brightness was enough to unsettle Justin. “It may be shining, but not for everyone, Joe,” the kid whined plaintively, pointing in the direction of the ball.

Joe looked up, and the smile on his face quickly faded into a furrowed brow.

“Well, well, well! Now you’ve got one, t-too,” Joe said in a grave tone as he climbed through the fence.

“What do you mean by ’got onetoo’?” Justin muttered in a turmoil. But Joe did not answer. He stood in the middle of the yard with his feet apart and his hands on his hips, studying the object hovering over Justin’s yard with genuine interest.

“What do you mean by ’got onetoo’?” Justin’s tone became more insistent and worried.

“In fact, the same contraption was h-hovering over my yard just a week ago. And I, I f-figured out a solution. There’s no need to worry, Kamala. We’ll t-tackle your problem.” With these words, Joe vanished through the fence, leaving Justin’s soul ignited with a spark of hope.

In less than five minutes, the fence’s plank opened again. Joe strode towards Justin confidently and purposefully, clutching an object in his hands.

“Well, Lloyd, let’s s-show them who’s the boss, ha?” Joe said decisively as he pointed the object at the balloon right in front of Justin’s nose. It was only then that Justin realized what Joe had brought. It was a Barnett Diablo Pro slingshot.

Three-piece stabilizer that reduces vibration and provides smooth, balanced shots. An adjustable sight. An ergonomic handle with detachable wrist rest and Magnum harnesses. It wasn’t merely a lethal weapon; it was a masterpiece. Justin had long harbored a desire for such a thing, but either because of his young age or due to his family’s pacifist beliefs, they were firmly against allowing their children to possess any object that even remotely resembled a weapon.

Joe squinted one eye at the target, cocked the rubber rods to the limit, and assumed the poised position of a hunter prepared to deliver a lethal shot. Together with Joe, Justin held his breath in anticipation. As the third minute passed, Justin cautiously inquired whether everything was all right with Joe.

“Joe, are you okay?”

“Avril, remind me why we’re h-here?” Joe growled in response.

“Joe, you need to shoot down that red balloon,” grunted Justin, pointing with his left hand towards the ball that Joe had been aiming at for over three minutes.

“Are you s-sure?” asked Joe skeptically.

“100% sure,” replied Justin with a sigh of disappointment.

In that very moment, a small, gleaming metal ball hurtled towards the red sphere chasing the sole purpose of destroying it. With a loud pop, the red balloon met its demise, and just like Smaug, shot down by Bart the Archer, fell to the ground with a final roar.

Joe examined a piece of red shapeless latex that used to be a balloon, and strongly remarked: “Yeah, the same s-style as in my case. It’s all Xi’s doing. Initially, I s-suspected the Mexicans. S-smuggling, you know? But now I’m c-certain. It must be Xi.”

It’s worth noting that the Mexicans were indeed transporting something across the city’s borders frequently. At times, it seemed like this motion was integral to their existence in the city. However, in this instance, Joe was correct; the object in question had nothing to do with the Mexicans. It was Xi’s doing.

Xi was a Chinese kid who attended the same school as Joe, and resided on the eastern side of the river. There is no recorded history of what precisely occurred between Joe and Xi. Rumors suggest that they shared a cordial relationship. Although they were not exactly friends, they were not enemies either. Xi even treated Joe to Peking Duck during Chinese New Year, and Joe reciprocated by inviting Xi to a Thanksgiving turkey feast. This exchange continued for a while until Xi abruptly declared himself the school diva, which Joe could not accept.

As the day drew to a close, the boys didn’t immediately notice the sun sinking towards the horizon, painting the sky with blood-red patterns in bizarre shapes.

“Weeeell,” said Joe, feeling accomplished. “Time for me t-to get t-to work. Need to f-figure out h-how to deal with Xi tomorrow. Who does he think h-he is, launching h-his balloons over our city? H-he can keep this t-t-troublemaking across the river. But h-he’d better not even think about meddling with us.”

Joe made his way to the opening in the fence. As he squeezed halfway through, he abruptly turned around, looked intently at Justin, and asked, “Hey, Karine, I’ve been meaning to ask you, h-how’s everything with you and S-suzanne? Are you guys still friends?”

Justin replied, “Yeah, we’re good. She said hi to you.”

“Tell her I said hi too, and by the way, those h-hairpins look great on you. Alright, catch you later. You know where to f-find me if anything comes up.”

“Of course, I do. You’re my neighbor,” Justin said with a smile. Joe squeezed the other half of his body through the opening and vanished into the darkness.

For a moment, Justin gazed at the spot where Joe had stood just moments before. He didn’t know who Karine or Suzanne were, nor did he recognize any of the names Joe had been mentioning all day. He had no idea what hairpins Joe was referring to. However, he knew one thing for certain: he had a true friend who would always be there for him whenever he needed help. All he had to do was ask. And that’s what real friendship is all about.